MARGAO
Bharat Raghav (2) and Unnati Hooda (6) reached the boys and girls finals of the Yonex Sunrise All India Junior (U19) Ranking Badminton Goa 2022 respectively at Manohar Parrikar indoor stadium, Navelim on Thursday.
A lot was expected form an all-Haryana matchup as Unnati took on higher-seeded Anupama Upadhyaya (4). However, 14-year-old Unnati put up a commanding display to win 21-14, 21-14 and seal the final spot.
In the final, Unnati will meet Devika Sihag (5), who has an opportunity to clinch a double crown as she has also made it to the doubles final along with her partner Isharani Baruah. Devika, who prevailed over Rakshitha Sree S (7) 22-24 21-13 21-11 in 1 hour and 3minutes in the singles semis, won a marathon doubles semis. Devika and Isharani Baruah (4) overcame a stiff resistance from Navya Kanderi (8) and Rakshitha Sree S 19-21 21-16 21-15 in 1 hour and 21 minutes.
Over in the boys singles event, top-seed, Telangana's Pranav Rao Gandham defeated Haryana's Manraj Singh 21-16, 21-19 in an entertaining encounter, which lasted 52 minutes. In the mixed doubles, Sathwik Reddy K and Vaishnavi Khadkekar put up a stunning display as they booked the title clash getting the better of Samarveer (3) and Radhika Sharma 22-20, 21-16 in the semis. They will meet Vighnesh Thathineni and Sri Sai Sravya Lakkamraju, who knocked out Divyam Arora (7) and Ridhi Kaur Toor 21-9 21-13.
Elsewhere, in Junior Boys singles semifinals, Bharat Raghav (2) beat Tonmoy Bikash Boruah (4) 21-9 21-17. In Junior Boys doubles semifinals, Darshan Pujari / Abhinav Thakur (1) beat Nicholas Nathan Raj / Tushar Suveer (4) 21-10 21-13; Divyam Arora / Mayank Rana beat Prabhjeet Singh Chhabra / Abhishek Mondalika Venkat 15-21, 21-17, 21-14 in the other semifinals, whereas Gnanadha Karthikeyan / Sania Sikkandar (1) beat Kanishka G / Dhanyaa N. 21-7 21-12 to move into Girls doubles finals.
